Mr. Jamal Abdi
National Iranian American Council
1629 K Street NW, Suite 503
Washington, D.C. 20006
Dear Mr. Abdi,
Thank you for your correspondence dated July 19, 2019 and February 6, 2020 to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), presenting the National Iranian American Council’s (NIAC) concerns with respect to the operation of accounts for Iranians and Iranian Americans.[1]
As you are aware, and as U.S. financial institutions should know, the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 560 (ITSR), do not generally prohibit U.S. financial institutions from providing financial services to Iranian-American citizens or Iranian nationals who are neither ordinarily resident nor located in Iran.
With respect to “Iranian accounts” (i.e., accounts, other than blocked accounts, of persons who are ordinarily resident in Iran, except when...
1) Read in conjunction with Case No. IA-2013-300350-1. The same analysis applies, except here OFAC clarifies (albeit impliedly) that 560.505 of the ITSR, for persons "ordinarily resident" in Iran but in the U.S. on one of the visa types listed, the "open[ing] and maintain[ing of] accounts at U.S. financial institutions." What is implied is that such activities are "ordinarily incident" to presence in the U.S. on one of the visa types listed in 560.505. The letter says that “open and maintain accounts at U.S. financial institutions” is “described in section 560.505 of the ITSR,” but 560.505 does not make any explicit reference to such activities. This is why, in Case No. IA-2013-300350-1, OFAC identified both 560.505 and 560.415 (ordinarily incident) as the bases of authority for Iranian students in the U.S....